Symposium

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Woman Faces Immigration Charges For Israel Bombing

Rasmieh Yousef Odeh departs the federal courthouse after her initial
appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Mason Tuesday, Oct. 22,
2013, in Chicago. Odeh, 66, who was arrested Tuesday, has been ordered
to appear before a federal judge in Detroit on Nov. 1 on charges she
allegedly lied about her conviction for a deadly bombing more than 40
years ago in Israel.

CHICAGO (AP) — An Arab-American community activist
from the Chicago suburbs was arrested Tuesday on immigration charges for
allegedly lying about her conviction for a deadly bombing more than 40
years ago in Israel.

Rasmieh Yousef Odeh, 66, spent a decade in an
Israeli prison for her involvement in a 1969 attack that involved bombs
planted at a crowded Jerusalem supermarket and a British consulate,
according to a federal indictment. Only one bomb — one of two placed at
the supermarket — exploded, killing the two people and wounding several
others. Israeli authorities have said the attacks were planned by the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

An Israeli military court sentenced Odeh to life in prison in 1970,
but she was released 10 years later in a prisoner exchange with the
Popular Front. Israel released 76 prisoners in exchange for an Israeli
soldier captured in Lebanon, according to Odeh's indictment.

But U.S. authorities accuse Odeh of failing to
mention her conviction and time in prison on immigration papers when she
came to the U.S. from Jordan in 1995 and before she became a
naturalized U.S. citizen in 2004, the indictment says.

Odeh was arrested Tuesday morning at her home in
Evergreen Park, just southwest of Chicago, according to prosecutors. She
moved to the Chicago area shortly after gaining citizenship in Detroit
in 2004, said Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement.

Her defense attorney James Fennerty said Odeh has
been a close friend of his for years and he never discussed her
conviction in Israel or the 10 years she spent in prison. "I never
really asked her," he said. "She's one of the nicest people. ... She's
always caring. She's not a threat to anyone."

Odeh works as an associate director at the Arab
American Action Network, a Chicago-area nonprofit group that advocates
for new immigrants and tries to combat anti-Muslim and anti-Arab
prejudice, according to its director, Hatem Abudayyeh. According to the
network's website, Odeh has a law degree and has worked as a lawyer. It
says one of her focuses has been working with domestic-violence groups
and addressing various women's issues.

"She is a leader in the community — a stalwart, an
icon," said Abudayyeh, who appeared at the Chicago federal court
building to support Odeh. He added about her arrest, "It's an escalation
of attacks on our community. ... We are very, very angry."

Abudayyeh was one of 23 Palestinian and left-wing
activists in Chicago, Minneapolis and Grand Rapids, Mich., whose homes
were raided by the FBI around 2010. The government has divulged almost
nothing about the investigation since, and no one has been indicted.

Odeh's attorney said there could be a link between
his client's arrest and the FBI raids. "Maybe someone is vindictive,
(thinking that), 'We didn't get the 23, so we can go after her,"
Fennerty told reporters.

A message seeking additional comment a spokeswoman
for federal prosecutors in Detroit was not returned Tuesday evening.
During her initial court appearance, Odeh appeared confused at times
during, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Mason repeatedly asked her if
she understood what was happening. She later was released from custody
on a $15,000 bond, and the judge ordered her to report by Nov. 1 to the
federal courthouse in Detroit, where the indictment was handed down.
Among other conditions, he barred Odeh from traveling abroad.

If convicted of immigration fraud, Odeh could face
up to 10 years in a U.S. prison. She could also be stripped of her U.S.
citizenship. The PFLP rose to prominence with a series of hijackings and
other attacks in the 1960's and 1970's that killed scores of people.
These days, it's a small militant Palestinian faction. The group's
leader, Ahmad Saadat, is in jail for his role in the assassination of an
Israeli Cabinet minister in 2001.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan
Barbara L. McQuade said in a statement that anyone convicted of
terrorist attack is barred from entering the United States. "Upon
discovery that someone convicted of a terrorist attack is in the United
States illegally, we will seek to use our criminal justice system to
remove that individual," she said.

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About Me

Ambrose Ehirim is a blogger, a writer, a photo-journalist, a volunteer and teacher. He has published articles and essays in African Times, African Watch, Pace News, Los Angeles Weekly, Life & Time Magazine, Kilima, American Chronicle, Long Beach Sentinel, Reuters and many other publications. He was former editor of New Life and West Coast Bureau Chief at the BNW Magazine. An Anti-Igbo Pogrom scholar and researcher, and currently working on and researching the 'Eastside Groups and Bands' Vintage Years.'

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